LENOX CHINA 
the STORY of 
WALTER SCOTT LENOX 


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The Story of 
WALTER SCOTT LENOX 


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WALTER SCOTT LENOX 


Pee OX CHINA 
The Story of 
WewereR SCOTT LENOX 


‘By 
GEORGE SANFORD HOLMES 


PRINTED FOR PRIVATE 
CIRCULATION ONLY 


- COPYRIGHT, 1924 
BY LENOX, INCORPORATED 
TRENTON, N. J. 


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DEDICATED TO 
LAURA LENOX JOHNSTON 


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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 


BART al 
Tue Story oF WALTER Scott LENox 
Nesmteeescoin LENOX . . . . . . «. frontispiece 
PAGE 
SEO OPES C0893. ge oro eh ee) Gans 20 
FIrsT PIECE OF BELLEEK MADE IN AMERICA... 22. 
LENOX, INCORPORATED, 1920 ee. CMe We e728 
Parr II 


THe MaxkInG oF LENox CHINA 


PAGE 
pre oMe—LuNOX, INC. . . 9. 5. ow ss 32 
ReeeeMCIRNIMILISTONH . . °°. . . . | ss 34 
MAKING SAGGERS AND SETTERS . . . . . . . +34 
PEBBLE GRINDING INCYLINDERS . . . . .. . 36 
MAKING A PLATE ON THE JIGGER' . . . . . 36 
DieerGCURSTAND SAUCERS ,  .) .  s . «= «w « 38 
PeaeiceCURSTROM MOULDS . .'. . « «+1 . 38 
Pee etCUALWAREO.* 5 0003 (5 2 MO Sh Se Po 
BARRING PLASTER PARIS MOULDS... 3... 4 4O 
PGCRING THR TIQUID MIXTURE . . . «|. .« «= 42 
BEONGING MOULDED PIECES . . . 3 «= . . 3 42 


Ey“) cr ra mi, to Cynic be. ¥\ 


LIST, OF TELUSTRATIONS 


Part II 


THe MaxkInNG oF LENox CHINA 


(Continued ) 


FINISHING CLAY WARE 

INTERIOR OF COAL-BURNING KILN 

PLACING WARE IN OIL-BURNING KILN 
SCOURING WARE BY SAND-BLAST MACHINE 
EXAMINING ‘“‘BISCUIT’’ WARE FOR GLAZING 
GRINDING THE GLAZE 


DiIpPING WARE IN GLAZE SOLUTION 


PREPARING GLAZED WARE FOR THE ‘‘GLOST’’ KILNS 


PLACING WARE IN THE ‘‘ GLOST ’’ KILNS 
SELECTING WARE FOR DECORATING 
PoLisHING 

PRINTING 

DESIGNING . 

MoDELING 

Dry GROUND LAYING . 

RAISED GOLD DECORATING 
DECORATING 

ENAMEL DECORATING 
DECORATING KILN 


BuRNISHING 


PAGE 


ADDITIONAL VIEWS 


OF 
Various Processes INVOLVED IN THE 


PRODUCTION OF LENOx CHINA 


CARRYING SAGGERS 

How SAGGERS ARE PACKED 
THE MOULDS 

SHRINKAGE OF VASE IN FIRING 
INTERIOR OF KILN . 
LABORATORY WORK 


THE OFFICE . 


pee N? OPN eG ELEN TY 
The Story of 
WALTER SCOTT LENOX 


MENOX CHINA 


The Story of 
Wee R SCOTT LENOX 


development. Perhaps he is en- 
dowed witha “‘single track’’ mind, 
as is frequently charged, but singleness of pur- 
pose seldom fails to beget results—and it is by 
results that we are judged. What a pity it 1s 
that all too often posterity alone is fitted to 
render a verdict! For the contemporary world 
is prone to call that man a dreamer whom history 
pronounces a genius. 

The most barren life is that which lacks 
ideals. Power, position, pelf—none of these 
can supply their want. Ideals feed the spirit, 
the inner man. He who is true to his ideals, 
even though he fail to attain them, has lived 
richly, for he has kept faith with himself and 
his fellows and has made the world better. 

None but the idealist can withstand the 
bludgeonings of fate and lift his head undaunted 
and uncowed and try again. None but the ideal- 


IS 


ist possesses the infinite patience which builds 
the perfection of tomorrow out of the mistakes 
and errors of countless yesterdays and todays. 
None but the idealist can wring froma broken 
body the tribute of success exacted by an unbroken 
will. None but an idealist can fire in others the 
white-hot flame of devotion, enthusiasm, and 
self-sacrifice with which he himself is consumed. 

Ideals—what would the world be without 
them? A morass of materialism, without hope, 
without aspiration, without progress. It is only 
by ideals that we lift ourselves from one plane 
to another in the slow and painful process of self- 
development and self-fulfillment. They are the 
only worth-while things in life, after all, for 
life without them becomes but animal existence, 
a mere succession of days on the treadmill of 
time. 

The history of Lenox china is the history of 
Walter Scott Lenox—and the history of Walter 
Scott Lenox is a modern epic of idealism. It is 
a story that a few have always known, those 
who knew and loved him in life, but the time 
has come, we believe, when it should be told to 
the American people, that native pride may be 
stimulated by the example of one who conse- 
crated his life to the sole ideal of elevating 
American ceramic art to a place of primary im- 


[ 16 ] 


portance. For this ideal he lived and labored 
and died. To it he clung with a passionate 
loyalty ; through it he became America’s fore- 
most potter, fitted by the standards of either 
trial or triumph, suffering or success, to rank 
with the Palissys and Wedgwoods and master 
potters of other times. 

The seeds of genius do not long le dormant, 
even.though they flower late. Born in Trenton, 
New Jersey, in 1859, Walter Scott Lenox was but 
a schoolboy when the sight of the potter's wheel 
awoke in him those longings which later led him 
along the paths of greatness. He was fascinated 
by the evolution of dull clay into shapes and 
forms of beauty in a little pottery which he 
passed daily on his way to and from school, and 
would spend hours watching the workers fashion 
the plastic earth into articles of usefulness and 
service. Thus environment helped to mold his 
destiny and the oldest of man’s arts aroused 
instincts in the ordinary American school lad 
which were to confer lustre upon his name in 
after years. There was then born in him not 
merely the ambition to become a potter but the 
desire to excel, a desire without which Walter 
Scott Lenox would have remained only a potter 
instead of developing into a genius. 

The urge to excel, to do things better than the 


Usal 


other fellow, to establish higher standards—what 
an ideal to kindle the breast of a mere boy! To 
make pottery, yes, that was the craving of the 
youthful Lenox as he lingered at the potter's 
wheel on his way to his daily lessons; but that 
was not all, for he would make better pottery, or 
none at all. 

And so this youth became a potter, learning 
the rudiments of a trade before essaying the 
possibilities of an art. He served an apprentice- 
ship in the Ott and Brewer factory and the Wil- 
letts pottery of Trenton, mastering the practical 
details of the work while studying decoration in 
his leisure hours. With the development of his 
artistic talent the young potter became more 
and more interested in decorative and creative 
effort and eventually became art director of the 
Ott and Brewer factory. 

There was little of the artistic in the American 
ceramic products of that period. Design was 
crude, expression exaggerated. Lenox, dreaming 
of better things, yearning for an opportunity to 
give vent to his own aspirations and individuality, 
perceived the fact that only by establishing his 
own factory could he attain his own ideals of 
producing a grade of china equal to the finest 
created abroad. In 1889, therefore, he finally 
effected a partnership with the late Jonathan 


[ 18 ] 


Coxon, Sr., in the Ceramic Art Company, which 
they operated together until 1894. Lenox then 
acquired the interest of his partner and from that 
time until 1906, he conducted the business alone, 
when he organized Lenox, Inc., under which form 
the pottery has since been operated. 

Just what this daring dream has meant to 
ceramic art in America is now gratefully appreci- 
ated, but at the time the experiment was re- 
garded doubtfully by others. The flame of a 
zealot glowed in the heart of Lenox. Not so in | 
the hearts of some of his backers, who stipulated 
that the factory he erected at the corner of Mead 
and Prince streets in Trenton, should be so con- 
structed as to be converted into a tenement build- 
ing should the pottery fail. Fortunately, there 
existed neither doubt nor misgiving in the mind 
of the young potter, who began in this classic 
old structure his inspired mission of improving 
American pottery. 

A china factory is a commercial proposition; 
it is an adventure in applied art. It must showa 
profit in order to succeed and endure. When we 
say, therefore, that the thought of financial 
return was secondary to his artistic ideals, we 
do not mean to impugn the sound business judg- 
ment of Walter Scott Lenox. He had but one 
standard—quality, and he knew that in the end 


[ 19 ] 


THE POTTERY, 1889 


[ 20 ] 


it would be successful and that the public would 
ultimately recognize it. But at what a cost! 

There were years and years of struggle; of 
heavy expense and light income; of increased 
production and decreased sales; of straitened 
circumstances and hectic financing; of pessimis- 
tic outlook and discouraged backing. Friends 
urged him to give up the experiment. They 
pointed out to him that there was a sure profit 
in cheaper wares which the American market 
would quickly absorb, but Lenox was adamant 
in his determination to make no compromise 
with his conscience. Nothing could stir him 
from his resolution to make the best china of 
which he was capable, or none. 

There is an inspiration in this tragic fight for 
artistic recognition and supremacy. It was a 
battle of peace no less arduous than a battle of 
war. It wasa conflict between a man’s honor and 
expedience; between his ideals and others’ ideas. 
When Walter Scott Lenox, in 1889, began the 
manufacture of china which was designed to rank 
with the finest porcelain produced elsewhere, 
many American manufacturers were in the habit 
of stamping their wares with English marks in 
order to sell their goods. No one dreamed that 
an American factory could turn out china of the 
first quality. The public of the United States 


[2x ] 


THE FIRST PIECE OF BELLEEK MADE IN AMERICA 


believed that foreign ware alone was worth pur- 
chasing and domestic china was given scant con- 
sideration. Yet young Lenox, true to his princi- 
ples and courageous to the end, never descended 
to the subterfuge of marking his products with a 
fraudulent foreign label, but was insistent that 
the world pass judgment upon his own handiwork 
at its intrinsic worth. He was at all times both 
artist and patriot. 

It was entirely due to the unconquerable spirit 
of this master potter of America that Lenox ware 
little by little obtained the recognition to which 
it was entitled. That recognition did not come 
in a day ora year, but gradually the discriminat- 
ing public of America became aware of the fact 
that Walter Scott Lenox was creating, in his fac- 
tory at Trenton, New Jersey, a type of china fitted 
to grace the table of a connoisseur and compete on 
equal terms with the highest grade products of 
the famous factories of Europe. 

That ware was termed “‘Belleek.’’ It received 
its name from Belleek, Ireland, where it was then 
produced in limited quantity. Importing two 
Belleek potters, Lenox strove for a long time 
unsuccessfully to produce the beautiful, creamy, 
ivory-tinted ware, marked by a rich, lustrous 
glaze, of which he dreamed. Finally failure gave 
way to perfection and the result was a china 


bee 


which charmed by the warmth and glow of its 
coloring and ranked in richness and quality with 
the masterpieces of other lands. Today, the first 
piece of Belleek turned out in America is a 
treasured exhibit in the display room of the 
Lenox pottery. 

Feverishly toiling to create new standards of 
art for American potters, tremendously in debt, 
burning with an ambition as strong as that 
which urged Bernard Palissy to cast his house- 
hold furniture into the oven of his kiln, Lenox, 
worn out by the fierce struggle to establish him- 
self, was about to welcome unqualified success 
when he was stricken with a calamity which 
would have utterly crushed an ordinary mortal. 
In 1895, at the very moment when success was 
beginning to crown his efforts, he was over- 
whelmed with paralysis and blindness, losing 
his sight and the use of his legs. Doomed to 
perpetual darkness and deprived of even the power 
of locomotion, none would have condemned this 
brave and dauntless spirit if he had then sur- 
rendered. Friends urged him to give up the fight. 
His physical infirmities were pointed out to him 
and the hopelessness of his cause painted in the 
blackest of hues. But the vision within him 
burned fiercely, a light that did not fail. With 
the God-given courage and fortitude of inherent 


[24 ] 


heroism, he elected to go on and on and on, toa 
victory he could not rise to greet, to a triumph 
he could not see. 

Wonderful indeed is the soul of man; stronger 
than the body, mightier than the flesh. Blind- 
ness and paralysis struck Walter Scott Lenox as 
he was about to reap the reward of artistic 
success, but at the nadir of financial resources. 
Obligations held him in a vise-like grip; debts 
hemmed him in on all sides. Should he give up. 
now that his ware had been accepted, after the 
sacrifices of himself and his friends and the exhi- 
bition of confidence on the part of his backers ? 

Never! To pay back his debts, to free his 
factory of all financial obligations, to establish 
himself in independence, became an obsession 
equal in intensity to that which spurred him on 
Pomirersticecnhacavor.. And then, as a result of 
the tragedy which overcame him physically, 
developed one of the most affecting relationships 
of which American industry has any record. 
Harry A. Brown, secretary of the company, now 
president, became the very alter ego of Walter 
Scott Lenox. 

‘‘Dominie’’ was the name by which the blind 
potter called his assistant, and well did Dominie 
serve his superior. No more intimate or more 
faithful stewardship has ever been assumed than 


psd 


that borne by Harry A. Brown from the moment 
fate visited Walter Scott Lenox with the terrible 
affliction with which he suffered to the day of 
his death. The mind of the stricken potter 
remained as brilliant, as resourceful, as active as 
before, but he saw through the eyes of his loyal 
associate. Together they directed the destinies 
of the growing business and developed production 
until the financial breakers began to recede. Im- 
plicitly the blind genius trusted his lieutenant and 
completely and eagerly the young advisor justi- 
fied that confidence. The task of management 
fell upon his shoulders and no task was ever 
handled with more honor or credit or under 
sadder circumstances. 

To him fell the responsibility of piloting the 
concern through the financial billows. And to 
him fell the profound joy of acquainting his 
superior on one eventful day with the fact that 
the last note at the bank had been paid, the 
factory cleared of all encumbrances and the 
entire property freed of debt. Those who have 
been a part of Lenox, Inc., for many years, 
remember the tears of joy that filled the sightless 
eyes of Walter Scott Lenox on that occasion. 
Upon their memories is vividly etched the dra- 
matic scene that took place when, at his request, 
a miniature kiln was built and the notes and 


[ 26 ] 


papers burned in his office to signalize the 
redemption of the factory from all financial 
obligations and the triumph of an ideal. 

Nor will they ever forget the impressive talk 
made to them, in the very shadow of death as well 
as in the noonday glare of success, by the leader 
who had inspired in them the same zeal and 
energy and ambition which actuated his own 
ardent nature. Under the spell of his personal 
magnetism, they had all worked as one individual 
fometucesuccess of Lenox, Inc., and under his 
leadership their common object had been at last 
attained. The blinded potter was vindicated. 

Until the day of his death, January 11, 1920, 
Walter Scott Lenox continued to visit his factory 
regularly, lovingly caressing the new products of 
“his boys,’ as they were turned out and endeav- 
oring to supplement the loss of sight through the 
delicate nerves of his fingers. His boyhood 
dream had been realized. Lenox ware competed 
with the products of the world’s best potteries. 
Lenox, Inc., was out of debt. And then one day 
he came no more. 

But the idealism, the personality, the spirit of 
Walter Scott Lenox live on. They permeate 
the factory, inspire his former associates, guide 
their efforts and direct their steps. Before he 
died, the whole course of Lenox production had 


(e278 


Ot6I ‘GHLVUOMUOONI *XONAT 


[ 28 | 


been changed by the discovery that superior table 
service could be made from Belleek ware. Until 
that time, Lenox products were principally 
ornamental pieces and objects of art of various 
types in popular vogue. With the successful 
experimentation in dinner ware, a new era was 
begun and the entire factory devoted to the out- 
put of dinner ware. The first complete service 
was displayed by Tiffany and Company, who had 
strongly encouraged Walter Scott Lenox in his. 
ideals and efforts. Today Lenox dinner service 
products are to be found in homes of culture 
and refinement throughout the land. Indeed, 
the first American-made dinner service to grace 
the White House is composed of 1700 pieces of 
Lenox, while presidential sets have also been 
ordered from Cuba and Venezuela. 

The driving genius of the Lenox organization 
was its head and founder, but with him have 
been associated for a score of years men who have 
helped make ceramic history in America. The 
work of Frank G. Holmes, designer, has been an 
important factor in the artistic development of 
Lenox ware. The symmetry and grace of Lenox 
shapes, as well as the effectiveness of the deco- 
tation, have become as famous as the ware itself. 
The execution of every detail connected with 
the decoration of Lenox China has practically 


[29 ] 


from its inception been under the personal 
supervision of William H. Clayton. When a 
boy, Mr. Clayton was apprenticed to Walter Scott 
Lenox, and learned the art of china decoration 
under this great master. 

Today, in a new pottery, one of the finest 
structures devoted to the manufacture of china, 
Lenox, Inc., continues under the same idealsimas 
those held by its founder. No considerations of 
profit will ever cause the men now in charge, 
proteges each and every one of Lenox, the Master 
Potter of America, to sacrifice quality or compro- 
mise the high standards he erected. The blind 
potter died having accomplished two great 
achievements. He had effectually eliminated 
American prejudice against native china and he 
had established the artistic prestige of American- 
made goods. Both in quality of composition and 
design, Lenox, Inc., ware rivals the really fine 
ceramic products of the world. It possesses a 
character, a tone, a charm of its own. This is the 
heritage handed downby the blind potter; and this 
is the heritage which those who assumed his re- 
sponsibilities value more than all else combined. 
Flattering offers for the plant and business of 
Lenox, Inc., have been made but they have 
always been rejected. They would have meant 
turning quality production into quantity pro- 


[ 30 ] 


duction and a sacrifice of artistic standards—a 
contingency as unthinkable today as when 
Walter Scott Lenox was alive. 

The blind potter is dead. But here, in the 
great, new, modern factory which has arisen on 
the site of the historic structure in which Lenox 
china was born, his soul yet lives. It is an 
American shrine to art, to beauty, to faith—and 
to idealism. 


[31] 


3a 


2. Seene 


SHOW ROOMS—LENOX, INC. 


ieee MAKING OF 
mE NOX CHINA 


‘For I remember stopping by the way 
To watch a Potter thumping his wet clay.”’ 
Omar KHAYYAM. 


=UNDREDS of years ago the im- 
aay fe, mortal Persiantentmaker expressed 
<< i in his singing verse the fascination 
ONS which exists even to this day in 


RIE 

beauty under the deft touch of the master hand. 
The primitive potter, sitting at his wheel, inspired 
the poet's couplet; but were Omar Khayyam alive 
he would still find the potter at his wheel, shaping 
the sodden earth with skillful fingers, even though 
modern electricity furnished the motive power 
for his spinning disc. 

It is a far cry from the ancient potter and his 
rough implements to the ultra-modern pottery of 
today; yet an age-old art makes them kin and 
an age-old longing actuates those who delight to 
follow the ‘‘wet clay’’ of which the poet speaks, 
from its original condition as a shapeless lump to 
that of the finished product—a perfect specimen 


ed 


THE ANCIENT MILLSTONE 


MAKING SAGGERS AND SETTERS 


[34] 


of ceramic art, a thing of grace and delicacy, a 
marvel of design and color and texture. 

Pottery is a creative art. Creative genius alone 
is worth while, adding to the sum total of the 
world’s joy, or wealth, or beauty. It was 
doubtless this fact that attracted Walter Scott 
Lenox to the potter’s wheel, as he went to and 
from school, and it is this feature which chal- 
lenges your own attention as you trace the prog- 
Beesor. ae iump of clay through the Lenox. 
pottery, until it emerges from the final process 
in the form of a piece of Lenox ware, fit com- 
panion for the finest china produced in the 
historic potteries of the Old World. 

In this Lenox Pottery, built upon the site of 
the first “‘tenement pottery ’—if we may use 
such a term—and occupying more than seven 
acres of ground, are to be found the newest 
developments in every phase of china-making. 
Constructed largely of glass, the plant affords the 
greatest amount of natural light possible, a 
factor of vital importance to skilled craftsmen 
engaged in delicate operations. Moreover, the 
air is cleansed of dust by means of the very latest 
ventilating devices and is constantly renewed, so 
that workmen and product are benefited by the 
most advantageous environment. To this com- 
plete and progressive plant, visitors come each 


[35] 


PEBBLE GRINDING IN CYLINDERS 


MAKING A PLATE ON THE ‘“‘JIGGER’’ 


year from all over the world, desirous of observ- 
ing new and advanced methods and improved 
technique in the manufacture of fine china. 

In spite of the devices evolved by modern 
inventive genius, however, this Twentieth 
Century workshop 1s a strange mixture of the 
old and the new. Herein les one of its most 
absorbing charms, for both years and experi- 
ence have failed to improve upon some of the 
methods originated by the ancient potters. The 
imagination is stirred to find appliances dating 
back thousands of years side by side with those 
of the present day. Even the most matter-of- 
fact visitor somehow senses, as he views these 
inevitable anachronisms, that the spirit of art 1s 
eternal and that on every side he is rubbing elbows 
with the dim past. 

There is more than mere atmosphere, though, 
to challenge the sensitive mind, in this interest- 
ing pottery, for no one can witness the evolution 
of raw minerals and earth into Lenox ware 
without marveling that beauty can find birth in 
such base materials. Yet the essential ingredi- 
ents of pottery are only clay, feldspar and flint, 
ordinary products of field and mine, selected with 
Cafe, it is true, by trained specialists, but not 
even remotely prophetic in themselves of the 
alchemy of the potter's art. 


[37a 


MAKING CUPS AND SAUCERS 


TAKING CUPS FROM MOULDS 


Transmuting these elemental materials into 
Lenox china is a wonderful process, one of rare 
refinement and precision. The raw ingredients 
are passed upon by Lenox experts, who subject 
them to close inspection in order that they may 
meet unvarying Lenox standards of quality. They 
are weighed and tested at every stage of their 
transition from mine to mixing-room and are 
closely examined in the laboratories by Lenox 
chemists and mineralogists, who superintend the 
intricate task of combining them in their proper 
proportions. Even the water with which they 
are mixed is filtered and metered to the last 
ounce, an indication of the exactness insisted upon 
by this pottery which aims at nothing less than 
perfection. Such accuracy and nicety of method 
have been instrumental in building up the splen- 
did morale and spirit of craftsmanship which 
have elicited astonishment and admiration from 
European visitors. 

New England feldspar is used exclusively by 
Lenox, having been found peculiarly well adapted 
to the making of this ware. The clays are brought 
from several different deposits, yielding a grade 
demanded after experimentation with clays from 
various localities. In the state in which they go 
into the bins of the Lenox pottery they are 
creamy white in color and very fine in texture. 


[39 | 


FINISHING CLAY WARE 


MAKING PLASTER PARIS MOULDS 


The feldspar is a rock formation, which, crushed 
beneath an ancient millstone, becomes a glisten- 
ing white powder. When these two ingredients 
have been assembled with flint, according to the 
Lenox formula, they are placed in a large revolv- 
ing cylinder, lined with porcelain blocks and 
containing a certain amount of water and flint 
pebbles. In this device, they are subjected to 
the process known as ‘‘pebble grinding,’ the 
flint pebbles grinding the minerals into a mass 
of uniform density as the huge cylinder slowly 
revolves. 

Even in this “pebble grinding’’ process, Lenox 
standards of care are followed scrupulously to 
obviate all chance of error or guesswork. A 
meter records each revolution, with the result 
that absolute uniformity of every charge is 
assured. ‘Pebble grinding’’ is a slow process, 
consuming fifty hours, after which the contents 
of the cylinder are found to have attained a thick, 
creamlike consistency. The mixture is then 
forced through a fine wire screen by air pressure, 
this process lasting two hours and eliminating 
all the larger particles, leaving a fine-textured 
fluid called ‘“‘slip.”’ 

‘Slip,’ however, a potter's term with which 
many are familiar, means more at the Lenox 
factory than a fluid strained through a wire 


[ 41 ] 


POURING THE LIQUID MIXTURE INTO MOULDS 


SPONGING MOULDED PIECES TO REMOVE SLIGHT UNEVENNESS 


[ 42 | 


screen with 200 meshes to the square inch. It 
must first have all metallic iron particles removed 
and then undergo ‘‘aging’’ before it is ready for 
the hand of the potter. Strangely enough, the 
removal of the iron atoms is an ultra-modern 
process, accomplished by forcing the slip over 
electro-magnets, while the ‘‘aging’’ is done 
according to a pottery principle handed down 
from earliest times. Here indeed the past and 
the present combine 1n the operation of rendering 
the clay susceptible to the potter's touch. 

It is not definitely known why “‘aging”’ makes 
Elayecasicr to handle; but it is*a vital factor, 
nevertheless, in creating a perfect piece of pottery, 
and since time immemorial the precedent of 
allowing the ‘‘slip’’ to “‘age’’ for several days 
has been followed 1n the ceramic industry. When 
this process is completed and the ‘‘slip’’ has 
reached the correct stage of plasticity, it is ready 
for ‘casting,’ or for the ‘‘j1ggering machine.’’ 

We could wish that the Persian poet and 
satirist, who watched the potter ‘thumping his 
wet clay,’ some time in the Twelfth century, 
could be introduced to the “‘jiggering machine’ 
as we find it today in the Lenox factory at 
Trenton, New Jersey. He would recognize it as 
the modern prototype of the potter’s wheel which 
found its way into literature by way of the 


[ 43 | 


CASTING 


FINISHING CLAY WARE 


[ 44 | 


Staten.) in fact, it zs the potter's wheel; 
greatly improved, we must confess, but similar 
in principle, operation and function to the wheel 
used by the ancients in the very dawn of civili- 
zation in the valley of the Nile. The ‘‘jiggering 
machine’’ is still a flat, revolving disc, but in- 
stead of being operated manually, it is spun by 
an individual electric motor, the speed being 
governed by the operator's knee. On this im- 
plement of antique origin brought up-to-date, 
the potter fashions his wares. 

Wie Operator of the - jiggering machine’ '— 
what a ridiculous name for such a classic and 
honored device—uses a working mould upon the 
wheel, made of plaster from the designer's 
original clay model. This plaster working 
mould is limited to but five or six weeks of con- 
tinuous use, after which time it becomes rough 
and pitted and has to be replaced by a fresh mould 
made from the master model. 

The working mould is placed upon the wheel 
and the slip is poured into it, being permitted to 
‘thicken until semi-plastic. It requires the judg- 
ment of long experience to determine when the 
clay is exactly ready to ‘work.’ It is a matter 
of seconds: a few too soon and it is unworkable; 
a few too many and the ‘‘slip’’ has become too 
hard. We wonder sometimes if it is a question 


[ 45 ] 


INTERIOR OF COAL-BURNING KILN, SHOWING HOW SAGGERS 


ARE PACKED FOR FIRING 
[ 46 ] 


of training or intuition, so accurately does the 
skilled craftsman gauge the time for moulding the 
moist clay. 

Swiftly the wheel spins and as you watch, you 
enjoy the fascination that is inherent in the 
human race at the sight of something being 
created. With a tool known as a “‘profile’’ the 
potter dexterously and with nicety of touch 
shapes the plastic material to the mould. This 
Manis an aftisan, with a skilled hand, an 
accurate sense of proportion and an unerring eye. 
He has the pride in his workmanship of the old 
guild masters of medieval times. So fine and 
delicate is his task that even the most expert can 
produce but a few pieces each day. 

Not all pottery, however, is produced upon 
the wheel. On the contrary, only simple shapes, 
such as plates, cups, bowls, etc., are turned upon 
the ‘‘jiggering machine.’’ Elaborate or intri- 
cate shapes are cast in moulds, the latter being 
made one-fifth larger than the completed articles, 
in order to allow for the shrinkage which results 
from firing later. Handles, spouts, knobs, etc., 
for such shapes as pitchers, pots and similar 
products are moulded separately and affixed by 
hand. 

When the shapes have been completed, they 
are stored in the drying room for twenty-four 


[ 47 J 


SCOURING WARE BY THE SAND-BLAST MACHINE 


[ 48 | 


hours, after which they are again placed on the 
wheel and gently sponged. They are then care- 
fully smoothed with a camel’s-hair brush to 
remove every suspicion of roughness from the 
sutface. We venture the belief that no pottery 
exceeds Lenox in the care exercised in finishing 
the ware at this stage, in preparation for baking 
in the immense kilns. 

The guest who has traced step by step every 
process in the making of fine china up to the 
point at which the graceful forms are to be placed 
in the big ovens, realizes that the delicate pieces 
of clay cannot be exposed to the direct heat of 
the kilns without being discolored or cracked. 
He is naturally interested, then, in seeing them 
placed in containers of coarse clay called ‘‘sag- 
gers, 1n which they receive their first baptism 
by fire. 

These saggers are packed 1n the kiln with care, 
as it is necessary to fill the great cylindrical oven 
completely. The workmen engaged in this oper- 
ation pile the saggers accurately one upon 
another like hat boxes, until every available inch 
of space has been utilized, after which they are 
wadded to resist fire gases. The kiln itself 1s 
about fourteen feet wide and more than fourteen 
feet high, with eight fire-holes around the bottom, 
besides the larger aperture through which the 


[ 49 ] 


$c 


EXAMINING ‘‘ BISCUIT’ WARE FOR GLAZING 


GRINDING THE GLAZE 


saggers full of pottery are carried. Smoke and 
fumes are borne away through the cone shaped 
stack which forms the top of the kiln. 

To the visitor it is a picturesque sight to watch 
the workmen load a kiln. From time immemorial 
it has been the custom for the men to carry 
saggers on their heads, and the practice still 
prevails in the Lenox pottery. The uninitiated get 
a decided thrill from witnessing a workman 
climbing a tall ladder with several saggers 
perched precariously upon his head, yet, though 
the load may seem to sway and totter, tradition 
fails to record any instance of a fall. Long ex- 
perience renders the workers perfect in their sense 
of balance and they handle the fragile and 
precious ware with a certainty and confidence 
that never fail. 

When the kiln 1s fully loaded, the entrance is 
tightly cemented with fire bricks and the fires are 
started. For thirty hours the heat 1s gradually 
increased until it reaches 2200 degrees Fahrenheit. 
To obtain some idea of what a temperature of 
this intensity means, it is only necessary to 
realize that but for the steel bands with which 
the kilns are bound, they would burst under the 
terrific heat. Nor is there any guesswork as to 
what the temperature actually is. Whereas in 
some potteries the heat is determined approxi- 


sas 


¢ 


“GLOST ’ KILNS 


PREPARING GLAZED WARE FOR THE 


[5251 


mately by examining test bits of clay, the Lenox 
kilns are governed by pyrometers, which re- 
cord the heat with absolute accuracy. After the 
thirty-hour firing period, the temperature is 
gradually reduced, the cooling process consuming 
two full days. 

When the ware is removed from the saggers it 
is in a white, vitrified state called ‘‘biscuit ware.’’ 
It is examined with extreme caution for imper- 
fections, as many pieces are usually found to 
have become warped or otherwise rendered un- 
desirable through firing. These imperfect speci- 
mens are immediately destroyed. The perfect 
pieces are then placed upon a large revolving 
table which carries them, one by one, through a 
blast of fine sand, which scours them so com- 
pletely that not even a trace of a ridge or a bubble 
remains. Then, by one of those newly-developed 
processes which are to be found here every now 
and then in close proximity to some ancient 
method, the clinging particles of sand are re- 
moved by compressed air. 

In this marvelously smooth condition the ware 
is ready to receive a glaze by being dipped in a 
solution by a glaze-dipper. He seems barely to 
touch the piece of biscuit ware as he holds it 
gently in his fingers, immerses it in the vat of 
liquid and removes it like a flash. He runs his 


i534) 


ce 


PLACING WARE IN THE ‘‘GLOST’’ KILNS 


SELECTING WARE FOR DECORATING 


[ 54] 


fingers over the surface to remove excess drops 
and then sets the piece down, the whole operation 
having taken but a few seconds of time. It is 
done so quickly, accurately and delicately that 
it is hard to realize the glazer has handled the 
piece at all. 

The necessity of applying the glaze with 
absolute uniformity is revealed when the piece 
is subjected to the next step, that of being fired ~ 
in the ‘‘glost’’ kiln. If the liquid has been put | 
on unevenly, the fierce heat of the “‘glost’’ kiln— 
2100 degrees Fahrenheit—will crack the object. 
The purpose of the kiln 1s to fuse the glaze, giving 
it the rich, ivory-cream tint which distinguishes 
Lenox ware. Owing to the fact that the glaze 
does not permeate the ‘‘body’’ of the china, as 
in the case of some varieties, Lenox, after emerg- 
ing from the ‘“‘glost’’ kiln, is neither brittle nor 
easily broken. 

It is in this condition that the ware is ready 
for decoration. Lenox designs vary from chaste 
simplicity to the most elaborate patterns and 
ate applied by four principal methods. Any one 
of these, or all, may be used upon a single piece of 
china, depending entirely upon the effect desired. 

These methods are known as acid-gold, flat- 
gold, color and dry-ground laying. Rather 
technical to the casual visitor, no doubt, but one 


Lest J 


POLISHING 


PRINTING : 


thing is apparent to the most unobservant and 
that is that china decoration in the Lenox pottery 
is the work of artists. The Lenox plant employs 
scores of highly-skilled decorators. To obtain 
workmen of this type entails great expense and 
adds heavily to the cost of production, but Lenox 
standards require that the decoration be worthy 
of the ware itself. Not only artistic ability but 
extraordinary accuracy is required of these 
workers. 

Those familiar with Lenox ware know that it 
makes a specialty of gold ornamentation. The 
combination of opulent, glowing metal and 
lustrous ivory is a thing of rare beauty. A vast 
amount of gold, worth thousands of dollars 
annually, is required for embellishing the ware, 
and nothing but 24-carat quality is employed. 
No so-called commercial gold, an adulterated 
imitation, is tolerated. In order that loss may 
be reduced to a minimum, all wiping cloths and 
utensils used in gold-decorating are burned to 
recover the precious metal that is in them. 

When an etched gold design is required, the 
part to be occupied by the etching 1s left exposed 
and the remainder of the object 1s covered with 
acid-resisting material. It is from this process 
that the ‘‘acid-gold’’ method derives its name. 
The entire piece is dipped in hydrofluoric acid 


las7al 


DESIGNING 


MODELING : 


[ 58 ] 


until the etching 1s completed. Pure gold ts then 
applied to the design, after which the piece is 
fired in a special decorating kiln. 

Flat-gold work is not so intricate, pure bar 
gold being reduced to a semi-plastic state and 
applied by the artist’s brush. 

Dry-ground laying, however, is a task demand- 
ing delicacy and skill. The dishes and other 
objects are first covered with a sticky substance 
called ‘‘size,’’ upon which the colors, in the form 
of dry powders, are dusted with absolute pre- 
cision. So exact is this method that the artist 
who lays the dry-ground, keeps his hands within 
a glass case, where suction ventilation is main- 
tained constantly to prevent his breathing the 
powder. 

Color work is done in three different ways. 
When objects are to be decorated with birds, 
flowers, fish, etc., the work is done by free-hand. 
Other pieces have designs outlined upon them 
for the artist to follow. Yet others have elabo- 
tate designs transferred to them, sometimes con- 
sisting of from fourteen to sixteen colors, while 
frequently the transferred design is supplemented 
by hand work. 

All pieces ornamented in gold or color must be 
fired in the decorating kiln, where the color is 
fused with the glaze. Color-firing and gold- 


[59] 


DRY GROUND LAYING 


RAISED GOLD DECORATING 


[ 60 ] 


firing, however, require different degrees of heat, 
Somtuateit 1S Oiten necessary to fire one piece 
several times for the various parts of the deco- 
ration. Can one imagine an industry in which 
there are more operations of the utmost intricacy 
and exactness than in this honored and tradition- 
steeped occupation of the potter ? 

Yet the half is not told. The refining process 
is present in every stage of china-making and we 
have not room, in this brief story, to describe 
all the inspections and means of acquiring true 
perfection through which the product passes 1n 
its journey from the clay-bin to the showroom. 
Plates, for instance, are burnished by hand and 
by machine, and each and every piece must pass 
the vigilant eyes of many experts. The most 
microscopic flaw is eventually discovered and 
immediately, when it is evident that a piece of 
@iaeetalisesbclow~-the Lenox standards, it is 
destroyed. 

Ever since the founding of the Lenox pottery 
the one rule of perfect quality has remained in- 
flexible and inviolate. It demands that nothing 
less than the best shall ever bear the Lenox mark. 
For this reason there are no imperfect specimens or 
“seconds’’ of Lenox wate. 

However, the special Lenox processes of treat- 
ing raw materials and fusing under correct 


[ 6x | 


ENAMEL DECORATING ; 


DECORATING KILN 


BURNISHING 


temperatures, impart to this ware an exceptional 
durability. Although exquisitely dainty, appar- 
ently as fragile in some instances as a petal, Lenox 
china resists chipping and cracking, and is not 
easily broken even under severe conditions. Thus 
it is not only a thing of beauty, but of usefulness 
forever, so long as it is handled with just the 
ordinary care bestowed upon less artistic and 
delicate ware. 

A tour of the Lenox potteries is a revelation in 
applied art. The painstaking care and unvarying 
precision necessary in every process impress them- 
selves upon the visitor. The atmosphere in which 
these creations are turned out partakes of that of 
the studio and the art-gallery. The spirit of 
craftsmanship pervades the whole institution. 
The ideals and genius of Walter Scott Lenox still 
live and are safe in the hearts and hands of those 
who are carrying on his great work. When one 
has observed these things, sensed this spirit, one 
can better appreciate why the world has come to 
acknowledge Lenox china as the finest example 
of the present day potter's art. 


[ 64 | 


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ADDITIONAL VIEWS of 
VARIOUS PROCESSES 
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Pan CuO wie LON OF 
dee Ne@ exe Gera loNGA 


CARRYING SAGGERS 


HOW SAGGERS ARE PACKED FOR FIRING 


THE MOULDS 


SHRINKAGE OF SAME VASE IN FIRING 


INTERIOR OF KILN 


LABORATORY WORK 


THE OFFICE 3 


[72] 


POERCORE Ler RS 


The Officers of Lenox, Incorporated 


H. A. BROWN 
President 


J. DRYDEN KUSER 
Vice-President 


JOHN L. KUSER 


Treasurer 


J. LOUIS KUSER, Jr. 


Assistant Treasurer 


FRANK G. HOLMES 
Secretary 


W IELIAM SH. (CLAY LON 
Assistant Secretary 


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